Nintendo: The 3DS "Is Really Going To Take Off" This Year

Nintendo's director of product marketing Bill Trinen has stated that the 3DS' slow progress in the US mirrors historically slow uptake regarding handheld devices, but that this will be the year that the console really starts to "take off".

“We have noticed that in the US in particular, people tend to, at least when it comes to handheld gaming, they tend to shift generations a lot more slowly than they do particularly in Japan,” he told Gamespot. “In Japan, once a new handheld system comes out it’s like everybody just goes right to it.

“GameBoy Advance was the same way; DS was the same way; 3DS now. It does take a couple of years. But then once it does, it really builds steam and so with the lineup that we’re seeing this year, to me it really feels like this is the year that 3DS is really going to take off.”